The Bull Bear Trader discusses market events and news with an interest in understanding risk and return in both bull and bear markets. Discussion topics include trading and hedging strategies, derivatives, risk management, hedge funds, quantitative finance, the energy and commodity markets, and private equity, as well as an occasional investment opinion.

Wikinvest Wire

Below are some links of interest (at least to me), just in case you missed them. A few have already been posted toTwitter.

Does the lag of the conventional P/E ratio make it useless as a value indicator? Would the P/E10 ratio, using the 10-year average of earnings, be better? Doug Short and others think so (dshort.com). Using the indicator, the market is currently a little expensive, but a lower ratio may also play out, driven by either lower prices or higher earnings. Good stuff. Check out the article and the site.

Nice end of week market and chart commentary from Dave Fry, as usual (ETF Digest). Lots of apparent correlation in the charts. Reminds me of the dart throwing days of the late 1990s. Kind of scary actually. Yet at the same time, just a few stocks seem to be driving some of the indexes (The Big Picture). Should the correlation be telling us anything? (Daily Options Report)

Emerging market funds attracted $2.6 billion for the week ending July 22, increasing the total to $32 billion into such funds for the year (Bloomberg). The emerging market bull rallies have been impressive (Carpe Diem).

Some interesting survey results from professional investors (Value Expectations). More are in the inflation versus deflation camp going forward, with most expecting interest rates to reach 4.5%. Nearly all are also against another stimulus package, with a very strong majority also against cap and trade legislation.

More from Joseph Zaluzzi on High Frequency Trading - with a debating partner this time (Source: CNBC Video). Capitalism at its best or worst? Mathematics/Computer Science at its best or worst? Is it really just about adding liquidity and arriving at the correct price faster? Hum.....

As of Thursday, 85% of stocks in the S&P 500 were trading above their 50-day MA (Bespoke Investment Group). Still not quite as high as it was in April and May, but getting close.

Will banning "naked" credit default swaps just make it harder to manage risk? (Clusterstock)

Below is a visualization of one trillion dollars, put together by the folks at mint.com (hat tip to Barry Ritholtz). As mentioned in the video, "trillion is the new billion."

Are CNBC's recent rants on bloggers good for short-term rating, but bad for long-term viewership? (Zero Hedge, Daily Options Report). Some wonder if they realize who their main viewers will be in 10 years.